China’s ‘electric eel’ sensor allows robots to feel an object without touching it

Electric eels hunt in pitch-black, murky waters by generating electric fields around their bodies. Now, Chinese scientists have mimicked this natural radar, giving robots the ability to “feel” objects without making physical contact.

“We want the machine to sense an approaching target – distinguish its material and surface condition – before any physical contact,” said Zhang Weiqiang, a professor at Xidian University, in a video interview last week.

The team’s work was published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Materials.

The researchers drew inspiration from the eel’s locating system. The hunter generates an electric field around itself and reads distortions in that field caused by nearby objects. The researchers borrowed the same logic – build a field, detect disturbances and extract information.

The sensor is made of a specially treated fluoropolymer that acts like a tiny static battery. Once charged, it keeps its charge for a long time, creating a steady electric field around it – like an invisible spider’s web.

“When an object draws near, the sensor picks up changes in the field and from those changes, it can infer the object’s electrical conductivity, dielectric properties and geometric shape,” Zhang said.

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